Imagine a world filled with mystical creatures known as Pokémon. Just like with animals in our own world, the number of species of these creatures is practically endless, with more than 600 identified throughout the world and more discoveries made each day. These creatures are in fact like animals-they often survive in the wild and answer to natural laws such as the food chain, or they may also be kept as domesticated pets, much like your average cat or dog.

The things separating these creatures from your average animal, however, are the amazing powers they possess. These powers have been categorized into seventeen different elements: Water, Fire, Grass, Electric, Earth (Ground), Rock, Air (Flying), Neutral (Normal), Ghost, Fighting, Psychic, Bug, Ice, Poison, Dragon, Metal (Steel), and Dark. Each species of Pokémon can be classified in up to two of these elemental categories, even though some argue that some Pokémon may even qualify to belong in even more. Out of these seventeen different types, there are weaknesses, strengths, and immunities, which all different types possess when dealing with other Pokémon, even if they happen to be the same type. Some elements dominate over others, while some are equals; some elements have very few weaknesses and many strengths, while others have many weaknesses and few strengths.

With such power, the Pokémon species can be very formidable, even dangerous creatures if provoked. In addition to their power, most Pokémon also have intelligence arguably equal or surpassing that of humans. While plenty of Pokémon live in the wild, away from humans, some also inhabit urban areas, living off the wastes of humans in their own societies or even in co-existence with them. Pokémon who prefer humans often become pets who enjoy simple, spoiled lifestyles or even work mates in the office or construction field. Then for other Pokémon, they team up with humans for competitions known as Pokémon battles.

The humans whose Pokémon team up for such competitions are called trainers, and they aid in the growth of Pokémon. Trainers often roam lands searching for wild Pokémon to capture in capsule devices called pokeballs. Many trainers simply capture Pokémon to add to their own personal collection-to see who can catch the most different species, or some trainers may hoard a certain species or element of Pokémon. Other trainers study Pokémon extensively to better understand them. Other trainers may use their Pokémon in fitness competitions or even Pokémon Contests, where trainers show off how beautiful and skilled their Pokémon are. Then there are others trainers who use Pokémon to help make the world a better place. These people are often referred to as Pokémon Rangers, who do not actively capture Pokémon but instead tame them to help protect wildlife and ecosystems.

And lastly, there are trainers who actively battle Pokémon. In a Pokémon battle, two or more trainers pit their Pokémon to see who is the strongest and most skilled; it is a test between both trainer and Pokémon to see how strong the bond is between them, as well as how good of a strategy they may have. Thanks to Pokémon having elemental types, some Pokémon usually have a type advantage during a battle, but even then, it is possible for the underdog to win. These trainers, the true "trainers", often challenge places known as certified Pokémon Gyms as to win badges as proof of their skill. The Gyms often employ the strongest trainer of the city or town to be the leader; leaders are known for their skill, and as such, they do not give out their badges easily. Even stronger than the Gym Leaders are the Elite Four: four outstanding trainers who are the strongest of the region, so much so that they are considered legends of battle. While many trainers aim to challenge gyms, few have the skill or guts to go up against the Elite Four, as only the best of the best can win against them.

With all these types of trainers, plus even more who were not even mentioned, one could assume that the world including Pokémon must be full of excitement. It indeed must be a mystifying place to live alongside the interesting creatures known as Pokémon. In this world, however, not all is well; for where there is good, evil also lurks. Great power can either be used for the greater good or abused for heinous evil. Such is the work of nefarious organizations that use Pokémon to support their evils deeds.

The evil organization of this story is known as Team Rocket. With their powerful leader, Lord Giovanni, they took over an entire region known as Kanto. Team Rocket had been an organization for years, starting with Giovanni's mother, who passed the leadership down to her sole son. The organization's main focus at the time was to exploit Pokémon for profit, which they did all too well. For years, Team Rocket had encroached upon the region known as Kanto, and eventually, they had seized control over it almost altogether. A teenage girl who deserted Team Rocket once her superior had left her to die fought tooth and nail to bring down Giovanni as she learned of his plot for world domination in a totalitarian government, where military control would overpower the common people and corruption would spread like disease.

This girl's name was Amber Neilstone; her first endeavor in taking down Team Rocket was discovering a Team Rocket-run casino, which not only had rigged machines, but it also sold rare fox-like Pokémon known as Eevee for high prices. Not only were these Pokémon poached, but also the poor creatures were caged up in a dark basement, where they were crammed into small metal cages, starved, and left to live in their own filth. Team Rocket seemed to also experiment on some of the Eevee, who as a species are known for evolving into several different Pokémon in order to better suit their environments; this resulted in the deaths of many of these creatures.

With Team Rocket exposed for the first time, they continued to take over one of Kanto's largest business cities: Saffron City. Amber, along with her childhood friends and rivals, Red and Blue, were the only hope for the city. Eventually Amber was able to infiltrate the great Silph Corporation, known for its breakthrough technology, where she discovered Team Rocket's boss had taken the president of the company as a hostage. Despite having most of her Pokémon injured by the event, Amber challenged Giovanni to a battle on these terms: if she won, he'd have to relinquish control of the city, set the hostage free, and disband Team Rocket; if he won, she would be his prisoner along with the rest of the people of the city. In a harrowing battle, Amber's team of Pokémon barely escaped victorious, but true to the deal, Giovanni, realizing he was outmatched and true to the bargain, gave up his control of the city, recalled his organization, and fled into the darkness before authorities could arrest him.

Amber, being the type of trainer who collected Gym badges for the Kanto's Indigo Pokémon League Tournament, was in for a real shock whenever she decided to get her last badge. Due to the leader of the gym in Viridian City hardly ever being present, many trainers had taken the gym for a joke, and even the league decided that as long as a trainer had seven badges, they were eligible to participate in the event even though eight used to be the requirement. But Amber, being true to her form, decided to get the eighth badge, and to her luck, the gym leader was there: Giovanni himself. In the depths of his gym, Giovanni had been plotting his revenge against Amber as well as the second rise of Team Rocket. Thanks to the training Amber's team had been through since their last encounter with Giovanni, they were ready for him and pulled off a rather impressive victory, earning Amber not only her final badge, but somehow, she had managed to gain Giovanni's mutual respect for being a trainer of considerable skill. Giovanni, his pride utterly damaged from his humiliating loss, officially disbanded Team Rocket for good, apologized to Amber for the trouble, and left to not be found again.

Although Giovanni had never been captured, it appeared he was a man of his word as Team Rocket's influence practically vanished overnight. Soon, Kanto had returned to the peace it had missed for so long; people didn't have to lock their doors at night or have a curfew, and kids were allowed to play outside again. With Kanto finally peaceful, Amber decided that since Giovanni had commended her skill, she'd put it to the ultimate test: against the Elite Four. Tracking down the legendary trainers was not an easy task, but Amber was able to find the rookie member, Lorelei, in her home on the Sevii Islands off of Kanto's coast.

There, Amber had challenged the Ice-type specialist in her own backyard. Unfortunately for Amber, out of the six Pokémon Amber used, Lorelei accomplished defeating all of them with just one. And to add insult to injury, Amber's Pokémon had not even managed to land a single attack on that one Pokemon the Ice master had used. Defeated, Amber went away into serious training determined to learn from her mistakes. Over a course of almost half a year's constant hard work, Amber's team bonded and became like family to her as they were her only means of contact as she secluded herself from the outside world. Finally, when she felt ready for the rematch, Amber once more confronted Lorelei, and this time, she won.

Afterward, she sought out the junior ranked member of the Elite Four, Bruno the Fighting-type specialist, who happened to be training on a mountain on a different Sevii Island. There, Amber was able to win yet again. Feeling even more confident, Amber sought out the elite ranked member of the four, Agatha, the Ghost-type specialist. She was surprised to discover that Agatha had once been a friend of her own good friend, Professor Oak, and so, the battle took place in Pallet Town where Amber originally began her Pokémon journey. Though it was a harrowing fight, Amber won. With Agatha's advice, Amber then sought out the Champion of the Elite Four: the Dragon Master, Lance.

Knowing that Lance had been undefeated for years, Amber's team went to work once more honing their skills and perfecting their techniques while learning new moves and strategies in the process. Finally, Amber sought out Lance, and the two fought a tenacious battle near Amber's hometown, Viridian City. Both trainers were evenly matched for skill, and for the first five Pokémon of each trainer, it appeared that a tie was more than likely. However, once Lance and Amber were down to their final Pokemon, Amber proved victorious as her most loyal Pokémon, a Charizard, overtook Lance's first Pokémon, his Dragonite, in a very decisive victory. Afterward, Lance commended her team on their skill and even offered Amber a position on the four, amending it to be the Elite Five. Though in the end, she refused since she did not really want the fame. The two came into an agreement that since not many people watched the battle, they would keep quiet and let anything about him losing to her be just a rumor.

From there, Amber took a small break, and then her team went on to participate in Kanto's Indigo Tournament, which happened every three years. There, Amber made quite a few new friends as well as ran into some old rivals. One of her new friends happened to be a red-headed loner named Silver, who she later discovered was none other than the son of Lord Giovanni himself, as well as Amber's former Team Rocket boss, Executive Ariana. Despite his background, Amber seemed to ignore those facts, and the two ended up battling in the competition, even though in the end, Amber won. Amber went on to win the entire tournament, the final round being a match between Amber and her biggest rival, Blue. It was a tough fight, but in the end, Amber's Charizard beat Blue's Blastoise.

With already so much accomplished at the tender age of fifteen, Amber decided to take a break by opening up her own trainer school, where she could tutor others into becoming skilled trainers as well as Pokémon handlers. Her main philosophy was that friendship and understanding between Pokémon and trainer brought out the best in both, since it was the main thing that won most of her battles. With her excellent reputation, the school quickly became a high-rated facility and even became famous throughout the entire region of Kanto. She, along with her by then very best friend and top student, Silver, overcame many difficult challenges such as to improve their skills as trainers.

Amber worked on conquering her rashness and naïvety while Silver, with Amber's help, learned how to better deal with people. If anything, Amber was quite content to have Team Rocket out of the picture, as her new life seemed to unfold rather neatly. Everything was running oh, so smoothly.

Or so she thought…

Author Notes:

I don't own any copyrights to pokemon, and most of the characters are not mine. Though the protagonist, Amber, is my OC. Thanks for reading!
Yeah, so here's the first portion of my EXTREMELY long pokemon fanfic. Like seriously, I started writing this thing...4? 5? years ago? (still not even remotely finished) When did they announce HeartGold and SoulSilver being released in Japan? Yeah, it's that old! At least these first few errm...volumes of it are. I admit this is a pretty boring prologue if you already have an idea of what pokemon is/the storyline from FireRed and LeafGreen. It does sorta introduce my main OC though, who is the main character. Oh, and the main secondary character, Silver. Yes, the rival from Gold/Silver/Crystal. And trust me, I was way on the whole Ariana x Giovanni = Silver long before the bandwagon really started. It's pretty obvious they're related.

Got some of my inspiration from this from my first ever dream of doing a Nuzlocke, though actually this wasn't based off any Nuzlocke run after all. I do admit that the plot sorta sticks with the games, though it does veer pretty off course as you go along. Eh, why am I even explaining? Oh yeah, and inspiration also from the manga! It's really awesome and definitely worth a read!

Anyway, to anyone who reads, I deeply appreciate it! Reviews are allowed, just please, no flaming or anything! Since I wrote this so long ago, I don't feel like going back and changing much, if anything! (This message was pretty much copy/paste off my deviantART).